Nida (Patriots), from The Book of Kings series, 

Ink on LE silver gelatin print 

Photographer and filmmaker Shirin Neshat was born in Iran and now lives and works in New York. The artist’s photographs offer stark yet stylized portrayals of middle-eastern culture.

I enjoy the bold contrast that appears in many of Neshat’s photos. Portraiture factors strongly into the artist’s portfolio. Sometimes she creates straightforward, intense images of individuals, and other times Neshat capitalizes on symbolic spiritual practices and modes of dress to create more complex, conceptually layered images.

Rapture Series, silver gelatin print

In a series of the portraits, Neshat draws and writes directly onto the printed photograph in black ink, imbuing subjects with imagined tattoos. These ink additions add an extra level of meaning to each of the works, and force the viewer to sit with them for a little longer. Neshat is also well-known for her works of film and performance, in which she elaborates further on the tension between seemingly oppositional concepts like femininity and masculinity, or public life and private life. 

Tooba Series, C-print